A FRENSHAM pupil has taken on a hair-raising challenge all in the name of charity.

Zara Windle, a Year 6 student at Edgeborough School, decided to chop off 30cm of her crowing glory, with both the hair and the money raised going to two charities.

The first being The Little Princess Trust, which will receive both of Zara’s 30cm ponytails, as they continue to provide real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young adults up to the age of 24 who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment and other illnesses.

Of the £1,534 accumulated at the time of writing, half will also be going to Edgeborough’s 2017/18 charity, Kids for Kids. The charity raises money for communities suffering from abject poverty in Darfur, Sudan.

In front of a packed school assembly last Friday, with her parents looking on, Zara had her hair cut by headmaster Dan Thornburn, with deputy head Clive Holder nearby to catch the hair before it hit the ground.

Following a standing ovation by all those looking on, Zara said afterwards: “I had been growing my hair for over a year to get it to such a length and decided I didn’t want to ‘just’ get it cut, I wanted to do it for a good cause.

“I chose The Little Princess Trust because it makes a big difference to cancer sufferers’ lives and didn’t want my hair just to be cut and swept away.”

With family, friends and staff all getting behind Zara’s campaign, she highlighted her gratitude for the support. “I’m so thankful for the donations from everyone who has given money, it really means a lot.”

Chosen hairdresser for the occasion, Mr Thornburn, the school’s new head added: “What Zara has done is fantastic. She has been doing her upmost to raise funds for two very special charities over the last few months and her hard work and dedication to fundraising has made us all very proud.

“I was honoured to be chosen to chop her hair in assembly, but it was most definitely the beginning and end of my career as a hairdresser, and thankfully Zara is off to have her hair tidied up by a professional!”

The day after the chop, the youngster did head off to see a professional at Toni & Guy in the Borough, where hairdresser Sam was in charge of making some adjustments to the Headmaster’s efforts. Upon hearing of Zara’s story when she got in the chairhe kindly made the haircut a complementary one, adding: “We knew she’d done it for charity and then she showed us her pictures and just how much she’d had cut off. It was a lovely thing to do and we thought it would be nice to make the haircut complementary. It was a pleasure.”

• To find out more about Zara’s fundraising go to uk.virginmoneygiving.com/zarawindle